Rangers fury at double standards

STUART BATHGATE

RANGERS manager Ally McCoist has echoed the comments of chief executive Craig Mather about the punishment meted out to different clubs for suffering insolvency events, saying he finds it hard to understand why his own club were fined £50,000 while Hearts and Dunfermline were given different sanctions.

McCoist insisted he had no wish for either the Edinburgh or Fife club to have financial penalties imposed on them, but said he could understand why many Rangers supporters felt their team had been dealt with unjustly.

“I don’t understand it,” he said yesterday. “Am I missing something? Are we the only ones who have been fined £50,000? If that’s the case then it does seem a little bit strange. So maybe we’ll get a cheque back from the SFA for £50,000 in the next couple of weeks. I would echo Craig’s views and look for an explanation. We’ve said all along, all we asked is to be treated fairly and the same as everybody else.

“A lot of the fans have felt very hard done by and felt that their club has been singled out. I’m very hopeful that’s not the case. Craig has asked for an explanation, so we’ll see what that is. I don’t want to see anybody fined. Far from it. Fining them for the sole purpose of not having any money defeats the object. But we are where we are. I’m gutted for them [Dunfermline and Hearts], honestly. I know what’s it like – we’ve been through it. I know what the staff and the supporters are going through. It’s terrible, it really is.”

Having been forced to deal with such issues for much of his time as manager, McCoist is looking forward to the start of next month, when he will have all his current squad available for the first time following the end of the signing restrictions imposed on Rangers. In some games so far he has been able to field two new players as trialists – Jon Daly and Nicky Law were thus designated in Sunday’s 4-0 Ramsdens Challenge Cup win over Albion Rovers – but in today’s League Cup match at Forfar he is not allowed any.

That means no place in the team for Nicky Clark, Cammy Bell or any of the other summer signings, and although it hardly leaves McCoist bereft of talent, he expects it will mean Rangers will face a severe challenge. “This is going to be the most testing game for us without doubt,” he said. “This is going to be a proper game because of where we are. It’s far from ideal, but we know what we’ve got to do. We know what we’ve got to pick from. The team will be nothing like the team that played at Dundee or at Albion Rovers. We’ve had them watched a couple of times and it’ll be tough. They’ve a new 3G surface – I always thought the surface was good, but they’ve changed it and apparently it’s all right.

“We must look at it as a chance for the guys who come in. They must make an impact and prove they can stay in the team. If they’re doing a job and they’re in the team they’ll stay in the team – that’s only fair. The guys who are coming in will know what’s required. If they come in and do well, they’ll stay there. It’s a real chance for them.”

Scott Gallacher will remain in goal today, but ideally McCoist would like to make a new signing in that position and send the 24-year-old out on loan. “We’re probably still of an opinion that in an ideal world we’d get him out on loan and get another goalkeeper in,” said McCoist. “Like most managers, I’d still like to get a forward and a defender in, if I could.

“We’ve had two [trialists] in just now – [Mamady] Sidibe and [Hameur] Bouazza. They’ve been great. I’ll see how they are with everything, but there’s no immediate rush with that since we can’t sign or play them anyway.”

Boris Pandza is closer to signing, according to McCoist, who added that at present only two players – Kal Naismith and Anestis Argyriou – have been told they can leave.